Description of the painting by Isaac Levitan “Church in Pleso”

Updated on 06.02.2019By Admin

The picture is painted in oil on canvas in 1888 in Pleso.

Painting style: realism.

Levitan was a master of landscapes. His canvases are filled with incredible depth, imbued with the Russian soul. Ples – this is the place where the artist not only lived, but also drew inexhaustible inspiration.

The painting depicts the old lonely church of Peter and Paul. In the background are depicted not less lonely crosses of the forgotten cemetery. Levitan painted several pictures of his favorite church. He was incredibly happy in those places, which he spoke of more than once. It is a warm summer day.

The combination of white and blue colors give the sky incredible depth and vitality. The artist painted it in the last rays of the sun. Levitan did not use the riot of colors, but everything in this picture is pleasing to the eye. It makes you think about the eternal and frailty of the world. A crooked fence in the foreground gives spiritual longing. Once this place served people, here they found their comfort. Now it is forgotten.

Levitan painted this picture without distortion. She served as a pretext for writing another picture of the same church, “Over Eternal Peace” in 1894. After more than a hundred years, we can plunge at that time, understand and feel, like the artist, love for this place.

The church on Plyos helps one to remember those who see that there is a religion in the world, and one cannot do without it. The canvas is very simple, but it does not reduce its invaluable contribution. The Peter and Paul Church burned down in 1903, but in its place stands a very similar wooden church. A huge number of people come to visit and pray there, believing that it is she who is depicted in the famous painting by Levitan.

The picture is stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Levitan wrote to Tretyakov that he was not told happy that the pictures would fall to him. He also said that the canvases painted in Plyos include all of its content and psyche.